


The Future's Nothing New

by atimi (bertee)



Series: CWRPF: Intergalactic Problem Solvers [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, M/M, Monsters, Slavery, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-16
Updated: 2010-05-16
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:05:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/atimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared is an intergalactic problem-solver, Jensen is a slave with a problem that needs solving, and Jeff is Jared's long-suffering mentor. Together they fight crime!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Future's Nothing New

The worst thing about being a badass, monster-hunting space-traveler, Jared decided, was the rain.

During their trip to Vasala seven years earlier (now known to Jared as the wettest, most depressing planet in the whole fucking universe), Jeff had promised him that he'd get used to the myriad of weather systems they would encounter on their travels, and that he'd eventually get over the fact that he was no longer living in a city that had nothing but sunshine for more than four hundred days a year. 

Given that now, at the age of twenty-five, Jared hated rain just as much as he did when he was a teenager, he figured it was safe to conclude that Jeff was a lying bastard.

Unfortunately, Jeff hadn't seem as perturbed by this conclusion as Jared had hoped and had just flashed him a smarmy grin before 'porting Jared down to the Thumian countryside in the middle of a rainstorm and soaring off towards the sunshine of the city with a parting Com message of _Happy hunting, kid! ;)_

(Aside from the whole saving-his-life thing, Jeff was pretty much a dick.)

The rain came down in sheets as Jared trudged along towards his destination. It beat down on his head, hammering on the barrier of his hooded windbreaker and then sliding down the material to drip onto his boots and pants. The wind whipped it into his face, making drops of water cling to his hair, skin and eyelashes, and his boots were becoming muddier with every step he took towards Byton. According to the ship's computer, the planet was a Class 4, with an even lower level of industrialization in remote villages like this one, and Jared tried not to feel too dejected at the realization that the town wouldn't even have steam showers, let alone high-efficiency rain-shields.

The sun was riding low in the gloomy sky, hidden by clouds and by the gallons of water that fell from the heavens, and Jared pulled his jacket tighter around his body as protection against the evening chill, sighing in frustration when he remember that Byton wouldn't have any heater units either. 

Class 4 planets sucked.

Adjusting the pack that was slung over his shoulder, Jared glanced up when he saw that the narrow, muddied path was leading him past some small houses and out into a wider but still muddied village square. His relief at finally arriving was quickly tempered when he saw that the village square in question was deserted, the town's residents shuttered up safely behind closed doors as the rain continued to pour down.

Wiping the rainwater out of his eyes, Jared scowled. He was there to save the village; the least they could do was let him get out of the rain (and possibly point him in the direction of some food.)

"Mr Morgan?"

Jared spun around at the question. His scowl instantly smoothed out when he saw the old man standing a few paces behind him, wrapped up in a well-used cloak and looking at him with pleased interest. "Mr Morgan? We were expecting you - we sent a messenger to the city to ask for help and when they told us they were sending an expert, we were so grateful. We-"

"Hey," Jared cut in with a grin. "That's awesome, really, but I'm not Mr Morgan." The old man frowned and Jared held out his hand, still smiling. "I'm Jared Padalecki. I work with Mr Morgan."

The man stared at him suspiciously as he shook his hand. "You're Mr Morgan's apprentice?"

"Assistant," Jared corrected, then frowned and searched for a better word. "Coworker. Consultant. Colleague. Something beginning with C that sounds important."

The man looked baffled but nodded at him anyway. "Well, pleased to meet you, whoever you are. Judge Anderson, at your service."

Jared raised his eyebrows, impressed, and Anderson gave him a kindly smile. "We're having dinner at Lord Somerville's residence if you'd care to join us? We can fill you in on our, uh, problem."

"Sounds good to me," Jared answered above the noise of the wind and the rain. "Lead on, Judge."

Anderson nodded gladly and Jared followed him as he led the way across the square and down another lane to where there was a grander house standing large and imposing even in the evening darkness. Light shone from the windows and as they got nearer, Jared could hear voices inside, jovial and confident in spite of the circumstances.

The judge didn't waste any time in getting them both out of the rain, and Jared was still blinking water out of his eyes when Anderson led him into the dining room and announced proudly, "Gentlemen, meet Mr Jared Padalecki. He's here to solve our problem."

Knowing that he looked quite a lot like a drowned rat, Jared at least tried to look like a charming drowned rat as he pulled off his windbreaker and looked around the dining room with a smile. 

He immediately regretted his wardrobe choice that morning.

While his all-black combo (complete with utility belt and thigh holster) was usually the most practical choice, it didn't exactly help him to blend him among Byton's elite. Their ruffled shirts, breeches, and silk vests all spoke of nobility and Jared was painfully aware of how wet and muddy his current clothes were as he stood there dripping onto the wooden floor.

The awkward silence stretched on as the men at the table stared at him curiously, and Jared nearly sighed in relief when the blond-haired man at the head of the table, who Jared presumed was Lord Somerville himself, got to his feet and greeted him courteously, "Thank you for coming, Sir. Come, sit!" He gestured to the empty seat beside him. "We'll get you a plate of food."

Jared's stomach perked up at the mention of food and he glanced at the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables on the other men's plates as he strode down the length of the dining hall to take his seat. His jacket and pack were soaked and heavy in his hands, and Somerville glanced down at it with a look of mild distaste. "Put Mr Padalecki's things in his room."

Jared frowned at the order but his expression morphed into one of surprise when he realized who Somerville had been speaking to. 

A man stood up from where he'd been kneeling beside Somerville's chair and Jared stared, stunned, as he rounded the table to take Jared's pack and windbreaker out of his hands. He looked about Jared's age, maybe a little older, but he was definitely shorter and skinnier than Jared. His ragged shirt and pants hung loose on his thin frame, creating a distinct contrast with the well-fitted finery of the rest of the men at the table, but as the man headed out of the room with his things, it was the metal collar around his neck that Jared couldn't take his eyes off.

Sinking to his seat at the table, Jared barely heard the chatter start up among the rest of the men as he tried to process the implications of the man's collar. 

The computer hadn't coughed up anything about Thuma being a VSL planet. Jeff was away dealing with royalty in Thuma's main city while Jared tackled this side job, and Jared knew he would've heard from him if there had been slaves there - Jeff hated the VSL societies almost as much as he did. It made sense that Byton could've been an exception, one little town clinging to slavery on an otherwise civilized world, but even so, no-one else at the table had a slave kneeling next to them to assist with their every whim.

Pushing down his instinctive anger towards Somerville, Jared decided to entertain the idea that it was a voluntary arrangement and followed up his host's order with the comment, "Thank you for the room, Sir."

"Thomas," Lord Somerville corrected easily, flashing Jared a smile. "Call me Thomas."

"Jared," he returned, reaching out to shake his hand and confirm the greeting. "Thanks."

"It isn't much, I'm afraid," Somerville said with a good-natured sigh. "Times have been tight around here recently."

"But we're hoping you can help with that," the man to Jared's left chimed in. He didn't bother to introduce himself and ploughed on with the question, "Did they tell you what was happening here?"

Jared shook his head and then pushed his wet hair back off his forehead. "Not really. My partner said you were getting threats from someone and that you needed help to get them to back off."

Somerville nodded. "That's the top and bottom of it." 

He opened his mouth to say more but Jared's attention flitted away when he saw the slave re-enter the room and sink to his knees quietly beside Somerville's chair. Despite being almost soundless to Jared's ears, his movements were apparently loud enough to catch Somerville's attention and Jared flinched when Somerville lashed out with casual violence, catching the slave with a hard backhand that knocked him to the floor. "Didn't I tell you to bring my guest a plate of food?"

The slave's eyes darted up to Jared's for a split-second, but before Jared could point out that Somerville hadn't actually told him to do anything, the slave looked away and was heading out of the room without complaint.

Jared scrubbed a hand across his face. So much for it being a voluntary arrangement.

Somerville's smile was a lot more unsettling this time, and Jared had to force himself to hide his anger when his host said calmly, "Sorry about that. Jensen has his uses but he's not the brightest slave I've ever had."

Jared's answering smile was grim, and he couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice as he muttered, "Must be hard for you."

"You know how it is," Somerville said, shrugging. "He gets it eventually."

The slave - _Jensen_ \- came back in just as Somerville finished speaking, and Jared sat awkwardly in his seat as a hot plate of food was carefully set in front of him. His gaze flickered over the slave's face, taking in his green eyes, hollow cheeks, and the livid red mark his master had left on his skin, and he said sincerely as he moved away, "Thanks, Jensen."

He caught a disapproving murmur from the opposite end of the table but ignored it in favor of watching Jensen settle back on his knees, both his cheeks now flaming equally red in embarrassment. Somerville's pursed lips relaxed into a vague sneer and he ran a hand through Jensen's short hair before picking up his knife and fork to take another bite of his food. 

Feeling less hungry (and now worrying about what Somerville let Jensen eat), Jared picked at his potato and asked with faked enthusiasm, "So, what kind of problem am I dealing with here? Is it something from this world or a different one?"

"A different one, we think," Judge Anderson said from across the table, taking a sip of his water. "He said his army had come from beyond the stars."

"Filthy aliens," Somerville said in disgust and then smiled in Jared's direction. "Not referring to you, of course."

Jared wondered how much Jeff would disapprove if he punched a client.

"There's an army?" he asked instead in an effort to tamp down the 'Must Punch Now' urges. "I thought this was just a small gig."

"We've only seen one of them," said the man to his left again. "He comes here every three days and demands tribute, or he says he'll bring his army down on us."

"We can't pay it anymore," Anderson added, anxiety creeping in. "We've held him off for months now but we can't afford to lose any more resources. The town's having a hard time anyway without being subject to threats."

"He says he's got an army?" Jared asked, still stuck on that aspect of the job. Fending off an entire army was definitely a two-man job. "What kind? Where is it?"

"Above us," Somerville said, arrogance mixed in with fear. "They're from a different world and they're waiting in the sky above us to rain down destruction if we don't cooperate with their demands." He looked at Jared seriously. "We won't be held hostage by aliens, Mr Padalecki."

Jared frowned. The airspace above Byton was clear - Jeff's ship was parked happily in the planet's atmosphere and the usual diagnostic scans hadn't revealed a heavy non-native presence anywhere on or above Thuma. "Have any of you seen this army?"

Anderson shook his head. "No. But we've heard about it. The scout comes to us every three days."

"What does this scout look like?"

"Like us," another man answered with an audible shudder. "His clothes are different - more like yours than ours - but he looks human."

Jared raised his eyebrows. "How do you know he's not?"

"He killed Samuels," Somerville said bluntly. "Jonah went to negotiate with him, to tell him that we wouldn't give in to his insane demands, and the creature killed him. Ripped his guts out without even breaking the skin."

There was a clattering of cutlery as more than one person abandoned their food at the memory. Taking a bite of his chicken, Jared asked curiously, "Does he have a name? What kind of demands does he make? When was the last time you saw him?"

He was aware he sounded a little too enthusiastic at the prospect of mysterious creatures who yanked people's guts out but he'd already decided that Lord Thomas Somerville was a dick and so didn't really care what he thought of him.

"He's just known as 'the scout'," said a red-haired man from the other side of the table. "We don't know what he really is."

"He demands payment," Somerville said. "He wants food, money, goods, whatever else we can offer him. It's extortion, and we can't afford it any longer."

"So you want me to-"

"Go to him," Somerville finished. "He comes to the route-marker outside of town at dawn on every third day. We need you to make him take his army and stop terrorizing our town like this."

"You'll be handsomely rewarded," Anderson added with a hopeful smile. "Whatever you want from us, we can give as long as you just _stop_ him."

Jared's eyes drifted down to the cowed slave at the promise of a reward, and when he looked up at the gathered men, it was with a confident smile on his face. "Leave it to me, gentlemen. I got this."

****

+++

"Jeff, man, I have no fucking idea what I'm doing."

Feet propped against the wall at the end of his bed, Jared tapped out a twitchy rhythm on his chest as Jeff's voice came through the Com. "Where are you?"

"Byton," Jared replied with a sigh. "At the house of Lord Thomas Somerville, who is a complete douche, by the way."

Jeff chuckled. "I take it he can't hear you."

"Oh, please." Jared rolled his eyes. "It's a Class 4, dude. They don't have even Com systems, let alone the technology to break through soundpods."

"Y'know, a straight-up 'yes' would've been fine. Oh, wait, then you wouldn't have been able to whine about taking a job out in the sticks. Can't forget that."

"Shut up," Jared retorted, smirking even as he tried to sound sullen. "I'm guessing you've hooked up with some Thumian royalty already?"

Even from the other end of the Com, Jared knew Jeff had a broad, dorky grin on his face when he replied, "There might have been a princess..."

"Y'know, one day, there will be no grateful princesses who want to sleep with the dashing space adventurer," Jared pointed out. "And when that day comes, I will mock you and rejoice."

"Oh, really? Guess it wasn't you I caught hooking up with that Lethian prince last month then."

"He had nice eyes!" Jared defended but let his pout relax into a smile when he heard Jeff laugh.

"That high horse of yours ain't looking so high now, is it, hot stuff?"

"Fuck you."

"More like a pony than a horse-"

"Fuck you," Jared repeated with a grin. Tucking his arm under his head, he watched the moonlight stream in around the curtains as he changed the subject, "Aside from sleeping your way around the palace, are you done there? Did you get rid of the thing that was making people sick?"

"Yeah." Jeff yawned down the Com but went on, "Standard parasitic attachments. Nothing that a quick blast of wave energy couldn't take care of. I told them to order up some standard antidote shots - that should stop it from infecting anyone else." He yawned again and Jared couldn't stop himself from being a little bitter about the fact that Jeff's sleepy afterglow was practically radiating through the Com as he asked with a drawl, "How about you? Did you stop whatever the locals were complaining about?"

"Not yet," Jared admitted. Frustrated, he rocked himself up to a sitting position and twisted his fingers in his sheets as he elaborated, "I should be done by tomorrow morning so you can come by to 'port me back after you've finished _attending to the princess_."

"Funny," Jeff said sarcastically. The humor dropped away quickly and he sounded more business-like when he asked, "What's going on there? What's the job?"

Jared ran his hand through his hair with a sigh, going over what Somerville had told him at dinner. "I don't know, man. Everything feels off here, y'know? According to Somerville, there's a scout who comes by every few days to demand payment, and he says he'll bring his army down on the village if they don't pay."

He could almost hear Jeff's frown as he replied, "Army? Why did they want our kind of help with dealing with territory fights?"

"The army isn't from this planet," Jared pointed out. "They're saying the scout is an alien and that his army's up in the sky somewhere."

Jeff snorted. "Bullshit. Scans were clear and I think I would've noticed if I was flying my baby through a damn warfleet."

"I know," he said. "I know all that. It's just- I'm going out at dawn to meet up with this mysterious scout guy-"

"Who probably isn't a scout at all," Jeff chimed in and Jared rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, genius, I got that. Anyway, I'm going out to meet with him in," -he checked the timer on the Com- "eight hours, and I have no idea what I'm facing. I just like being prepared, y'know?"

There was a preparatory intake of breath on the other end of the line but Jared interrupted before Jeff could get any words out, "And don't make a sex joke. I'm being serious here, Jeff - I don't know what the fuck I'm doing."

"Sure you do." Jeff's voice was calm and confident, and Jared found himself listening intently as he asked, "Why do you think I'm letting you do more and more solo jobs now?"

"So you can get laid?" Jared joked weakly.

"Because I know you can do it," Jeff reassured. "Whatever this scout thing is, he's alien and he's alone. You either negotiate some kind of truce with him or if that doesn't work, you take that motherfucker out." Jared smiled in spite of himself and Jeff added, "See? Walk in the park. Worst case scenario is that you end up washing monster guts out of that ridiculous hair of yours."

"Hey!" Confidence returning at the insult to his hairstyle choices, Jared retorted, "It takes work to get my hair looking this good."

"No shit. I'm the one who has to wait for you to get done in the shower every morning, princess."

"Wow, peptalk to insults in 1.6 seconds. Nice work."

"It's an art." 

Smirking, Jared heard Jeff let out a contented groan which signaled that he was sleepy and was making himself comfortable in whatever bed he'd commandeered for the night. The 'goodnight' was on the tip of his tongue but a question came spilling out before he could sign off for the night, "Jeff, are there slaves in the palace?"

"What?"

"Slaves," Jared repeated nervously. "Does the king have slaves running things?"

"No," Jeff said, sounding confused and already more awake. "Thuma isn't a VSL planet. It's old-fashioned but it's not that fucked up. Why are you asking?"

Jared swallowed. "Because there's a slave here."

Jeff sounded stunned as he clarified, "'Here' meaning...?"

"In Byton. In Somerville's house. He works for him."

"Are you sure he's not a servant? If Somerville pays him then-"

"I know what a slave looks like, Jeff," Jared cut in sharply, thinking of how hard Somerville had hit Jensen at dinner and how skinny Jensen had looked under his clothes. "He was wearing a collar."

"Shit," Jeff swore and Jared heard him running his hand over the stubble on his jaw. "There's only one slave?"

"That's weird, right?" Jared asked, thinking of the rest of the village nobles and their lack of slaves. "Why this one? What did he do to deserve being treated like that?"

"I don't think people ever deserve to be slaves, Jared. There's a reason the UPB outlawed it."

"No, I know that. Of course I know that," he said, rubbing his eyes as he searched for the right words. "It's just freaking me out, man. Jensen shouldn't be here like that."

"Jensen, huh? You know his name?"

"What am I supposed to do?” Jared shot back defensively. “Just keep calling him 'the slave'?”

"Whoa, easy, kid," Jeff said firmly, and Jared calmed down enough to listen. "Do you think his owner would let him go?"

"Maybe? If I stop the scout from threatening the town, they might let Jensen go free as a reward."

Jeff made a noise of agreement. "Sounds like a plan, kiddo. Don't get any idea about keeping him though - I know you want to help him and that's really great, but we're not taking on an ex-slave. He can stay there in the village or we can drop him down in the city but I'm not taking him on as crew."

To his surprise, Jared found himself ready to protest and to try to persuade Jeff otherwise. Nevertheless, he quashed the temptation to argue back and yielded to Jeff's instructions, trying to convince himself that it was out of respect for his elders and not because he knew Jeff was more likely to be persuaded after he'd had a good night's sleep (and possibly more princess sex.) "No taking him with us. Got it."

"Good." On the other end of the Com, Jeff let out another yawn and said tiredly, "You good to get the job done tomorrow morning? I'll come by to pick you up a couple of hours after the sun comes up, and I'll leave the Com channel open in case you need to reach me."

"Okay."

"That's emergency circumstances only," he reiterated. "You don't get to call because you want to whine at me about adopting an ex-slave. I'm a busy man."

Not wanting to know what Jeff would be busy doing, Jared nodded and agreed with a grin, "Got it. Over and out, Cap'n."

"Smartass," Jeff groused and Jared chuckled as he heard the soft buzz of the Com link closing down, shutting down the soundpod as it went.

The small bedroom felt cooler without the whirr of the Com and the familiar sound of Jeff's voice, and Jared kicked his pack away to the end of the bed as he listened to the rain slam against the windows with each new gust of wind. The rest of Somerville's house was quiet, with only the occasion whinny of the horses from the stables rising above the noise of the weather, and Jared blinked up at the ceiling as he wondered whether it was hugely inappropriate to snoop around Somerville's house while he was sleeping.

As always, the desire to explore won out over the desire to abide by social conventions, and he pushed himself off the bed as quietly as he could. 

The wooden floor was cold under his bare feet, the chill of the weather creeping through every inch of the house. Deciding that his t-shirt and boxers would have to suffice in terms of clothing, Jared crossed the bedroom and carefully pulled the creaky door open before stepping out into the hallway.

It wasn't as dark as he'd anticipated, with small lamps stationed at intervals along the length of the hall and light from Thuma's two moons streaming in through the windows, and Jared picked up the pace now that he could see where he was going. 

He exhaled in quiet relief when he saw that Somerville's bedroom door was closed, suggesting he was shut up in his room for the night even if he wasn't asleep yet. Keeping his footsteps as light as he could, Jared crept along the wall of Somerville's room and was prepared to be extra, extra quiet when he walked past the door.

Unfortunately, he never got the opportunity. 

Concentrating on keeping his footfalls swift and silent, he didn't realize Somerville's door was opening until he caught the squeak of the hinges and by then it was too late. Already walking too quickly, Jared couldn't stop himself in time and he cursed as he collided hard with the figure that came hurrying out of Somerville's bedroom.

"Fuck-"

Stumbling forward, Jared grasped onto whatever he could in an effort to stay upright but he frowned when the person he had grabbed froze under his hands and stammered nervously, "I- I'm sorry, Mr Padalecki, Sir."

Looking down at the man whose shoulders he was now holding, Jared blinked in surprise. "Jensen?"

Jensen's eyes were wide in the dim light, and Jared felt the tug of him trying to back away as he fumbled over another anxious apology, "I'm sorry, Sir. It- I didn't see you."

"It's okay," Jared reassured quickly. "I should've been more careful." 

He let him go, aware that manhandling a maltreated slave wasn't the best course of action, but looked again at Jensen's face in confusion. "Are you okay? You look-" He gestured to Jensen's mouth, trying to remember if his lips had looked that swollen at dinner. "Did something happen?" Anger flared up as he asked the more important question, "Did Somerville hit you?"

Lips pressed together, Jensen dropped his eyes to the floor in humiliation, and Jared swallowed down the wave of nausea that rose up at the realization of exactly what had gone on in Somerville's bedroom to leave Jensen’s lips looking like that.

"Shit, Jensen..." 

Jensen wouldn't look up from the floor, his shoulders tense and pulled in as though that would provide some kind of protection, and Jared cringed internally for not putting two and two together faster. More than ready to beat the crap out of Somerville in retribution, Jared caught Jensen's jaw in his hand and gently coaxed his chin up so that he could get a better look at the damage.

Jensen's face looked pale in the moonlight, the metal of the collar standing out in a dark ring around his throat, and Jared brushed his thumb over the freckles that covered the bridge of his nose and the curve of his cheekbones as he asked with sincere concern, "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he do anything els-"

Brow creasing, Jared hesitated when he saw that, rather than calming down, Jensen's breathing was becoming increasingly shallow and terrified even as he stayed still, chin obediently lifted for Jared's inspection.

Jared's brain really wasn't functioning well that night, and he dropped his hand away sharply when it dawned on him that it was him, that his presence and his touches were making Jensen look that scared. 

"Hey, hey, no," he promised, holding his hands up in reassurance and stepping back to give Jensen space to breathe. "It's okay - I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help-"

"Jensen?"

Jared started in surprise at the voice to his left, and he whirled around to see Lord Somerville standing in the doorway, looking between the two of them with disdain. 

"Mr Padalecki," he greeted with a tired nod. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope," Jared said quickly, slapping on a smile and indulging in a brief fantasy of punching Somerville in his smug, assholish face. "No problem. I was just going to get some water and didn't look where I was going."

The suspicion disappeared from Somerville's eyes and he shrugged, disdainful gaze flickering over to Jensen. "It was probably Jensen's fault anyway. He can be incredibly clumsy sometimes."

Jared saw Jensen curl in on himself even further, and wondered how hard he'd have to punch Somerville to break his nose. 

"No, really, it was my fault," he said honestly, smile becoming even more strained. "Jensen didn't do anything."

He reached out to rest a comforting hand on Jensen's shoulder but somehow felt even guiltier when Jensen flinched back at the touch. Somerville didn't seem fazed, however, and tossed out the order to his slave, "Get to bed, boy."

Jensen took off down the hall almost at a run before Jared could say anything else, and he found himself faced with Lord Somerville's utterly infuriating smirk as he said knowingly, "If you'll excuse me, Mr Padalecki, I need to get some sleep. It's been a busy night."

The bedroom door slammed shut before Jared could channel his outraged fury into some kind of productive physical violence, ideally aimed at Somerville's crotch.

**+++**

"No, please!"

Screwing his eyes shut, Jared burrowed his head deeper into his pillow as he was roused from sleep. The cool wind crept in through the cracks in the window frames and ghosted across his bare feet, and Jared groaned as he fumbled for the alarm that had woken him up.

Finding his Com tucked under his pillow, Jared cracked one eye open to turn it off, but found himself tugged back to wakefulness when he realized that his alarm was still silent and that it was now only an hour later than when he'd originally gone to bed.

"Please, no! No!"

His eyes flew open at the shout, and he was out of bed and on his feet in a matter of seconds. Not bothering with quietness this time, he clipped his lightest flick-knife to the waistband of his boxers and readied his blaster in his hand as he moved swiftly and smoothly out of his bedroom and down the hallway to where he guessed the shouts were coming from. 

Somerville's bedroom door cracked and splintered under the force of Jared's kick and it clattered against the wall as Jared charged in, gun raised and finger on the trigger in preparation to blast a hole through Somerville for whatever he was doing to Jensen.

He skidded to a halt and let the blaster fall to his side when he saw that the bed was empty.

"No! Please, please, I'll do anything, just don't-"

Heart still pounding in his chest, Jared headed back into the hallway in search of the person who was screaming. He couldn't recognize the voice over the distortion of the rain which was still coming down in sheets outside, and he jogged down the hall and then down the stairs, checking every room as he went for someone who could be in trouble.

He reached the dining hall without finding any trace of Somerville or Jensen, and he ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he began to broaden his search. He couldn't shake the image of Jensen's face after he'd emerged from Somerville's bedroom, and as another cry of "God, please! Please, don’t do this!" was shouted over the rain, he couldn't stop his mind from drawing conclusions that he really didn't want to think about.

The kitchen was empty, as was the pantry and the drawing room, and Jared followed the sound of the horses' frightened cries towards the back of the mansion and the more run-down rooms which lay out towards the attached stables. He threw open door after door with no success, and a cold fear settled into his gut at the thought that the shouts appeared to have ceased. 

Hope began to give way to dread, but he stumbled to a halt when he opened the last door before the covered walkway that led out to the horses.

It was Jensen's bedroom. There was no doubt about that - he and Somerville were the only two people who lived in the house, and Jared had already checked Somerville's room - but the sight of the thin, dirty mattress on the stone floor and the meager belongings sparked up a fresh flare of hatred for Somerville and for VSL societies in general. However, the heat of his anger was neutralized by the overpowering chill of fear when he saw that Jensen's bedding was torn and that his belongings were strewn around the room as though they had been discarded in a struggle.

Eyes fixed on the destruction within the room, Jared tried to piece together what had happened, tried to make some sense out of the pleas and the chaos, but he tore himself away when he heard a wooden door rattle behind him, turning with his gun raised and aimed at the intruder.

"Padalecki." The courtesy of the title of 'Mr' was discarded on account of the annoyance that was written across Somerville's face and Jared's eyes flickered over him, taking in his damp cloak and his sturdy shoes which would've taken at least a minute to put on and lace up. "Want to explain why you're pointing a weapon at me? Last time I checked, I'm the one who hired you."

"The city government hired me," Jared corrected, allowing himself a moment of pettiness as he lowered the gun a little. "You're just the one responsible for rewarding me when I complete the job I was contracted for."

"I don't remember you being contracted to kill me with that thing." 

Somerville's attempt at humor fell flat and Jared just about held back a sneer when he asked, "Where's your slave, Somerville?"

Somerville's pinched expression relaxed. "Is that what this is about? You heard him making all that noise?"

"I heard him begging for help," Jared said coldly, and watched as Somerville shook his cloak off with a smirk.

"He's not in any danger," he promised. "I know the shouting can be quite disturbing but it happens often enough. Jensen's prone to vivid nightmares. I've told him to keep quiet and to just stay awake if he's going to be that disruptive but this still happens on occasion." 

He gave a 'what can you do?' shrug. Jared wanted to answer that beating and abusing a scared slave probably wasn't the way to stop him from having nightmares.

Nevertheless, he lowered the blaster and asked, "Where is he?"

"In the stables," Somerville replied with a sigh. "It always spooks the horses when he gets like this, and so he goes to calm them down afterwards. I think it calms him down too, to be honest."

"What-"

"It's not long before dawn now, Mr Padalecki," he interrupted with a hint of force in his tone. "I really do recommend you get some sleep before you go out to meet the scout at daybreak. Jensen will be fine - you can see for yourself after you've done your job in the morning." He smiled. "Let me show you back up to your room."

He didn't wait for Jared's agreement and just swept past him, leaving Jared no choice but to follow along behind or start a new argument over something he couldn't prove. Turning to head back to his room, Jared allowed himself one more glimpse of Jensen's tiny, uncomfortable bedroom, which only served to strengthen his resolve to save the village (even if it meant saving Lord Asswipe Somerville along with it) and then to claim Jensen as his reward. 

Back in his bed, Jared listened to the rain that continued to pour from the sky as he waited for dawn to come.

****

+++

It was a long-standing joke that Jared could ride anything.

Admittedly, it was mostly Jeff who was responsible for the joking since Jared pretty much just stood around and scowled at him, but he had to confess that Jeff had a point. Growing up on Misos, he'd raced chargers and cruisers as well as plenty of strange hybrids of the two which he'd constructed in his family's workshop, and in his years traveling with Jeff, he'd been capable of piloting and/or steering whatever the situation had called for, including on one memorable occasion a robotic velociraptor.

Therefore, as Jared rode out of Byton at dawn in the pouring rain, he was more than confident to be doing so on a good, old-fashioned horse.

The rain hadn't stopped during the night, still coming down heavily across the wooded countryside around the village, and the horse's hooves kicked up mud with every stride as Jared galloped out to the route-marker that Somerville had told him about. The rainwater splashed on his face and soaked into the parts of his clothes not covered by his windbreaker, but Jared ignored it as best he could, focusing on the task at hand rather than letting himself indulge in more internal whining about the weather. 

His palms were damp with sweat on the horse's reins and his heart beat fast with nervous anticipation as he got closer to the designated meeting point, mind swirling with worries about exactly who (or what) he would encounter there.

Through the rain and the trees, he could just about make out the large stone marker standing ahead of him but he slowed his horse to a trot as his eyes drifted across to where a lone figure was standing in the middle of the road.

Jared was too far away to make out his face but he took in his long leather coat and shaved head, immediately ruling out certain alien species and moving other potential candidates higher up his mental list. 

He kept his distance as he brought the horse to a halt by a tree and tied the reins to a sturdy-looking branch. His blaster was in his thigh-holster once again and he smoothed his hands along his belt, checking that he had all the restraints, ammunition, and weaponry that he might need for dealing with the alleged scout. 

Satisfied with his preparations, he turned around and hid as much of his trepidation as he could when he strode towards the man stationed in the road.

Up close, the scout looked human. His blue-gray eyes, his shaved head, his posture, and even the bone structure of his face looked like that of an ordinary human, but there was something about him that made Jared's skin prickle with unease as the scout tilted his head at him and spoke up, sounding curious but still very much human, "You're not from the village."

"Nope." Jared smiled. "Jared Padalecki, formerly of Misos, now with no fixed planetary residence. And you are?"

"I am the scout," the man said, pale eyes fixed on Jared's. "I have come to collect the payment that will spare Byton from destruction."

"Destruction, huh? Sounds messy.” He eyed him carefully and pushed, "Destruction by what exactly?"

"My army has come from the stars," the scout said, keeping his steely gaze locked with Jared's. "They are waiting in the sky to crush this village if it does not comply with my demands."

The scout's eyes narrowed, and a broad smile spread across Jared's face as realization dawned in a flash.

"You're lying," he shot back, confident and marginally more relaxed now that he knew what he was facing. "There's no army in the sky. There never was. You're working alone."

"You're making a mistake, Mr Padalecki."

"Mistake?" Jared laughed, pushing his wet hair off his forehead and letting his hand fall to his gun. "Trust me, I'm not the one who just made a mistake here." 

The scout's head tilted further to the side in a gesture of confusion and Jared smirked as he called above the noise of the rain, "Hey, you want a hint for the next time you pretend to be human?" 

The question was rhetorical, and Jared leaned in as he gave the murmured answer, "Humans blink."

The scout reared back at that, lips twisting in an ugly sneer, but Jared held his ground as the scout growled, "You don't know what you're dealing with, boy."

"Actually I do," Jared corrected. "You're a skopora, aren't you?" The scout's face froze in surprise and Jared smiled at the wordless confirmation. "Gotta say, I haven't seen one of your kind in a while. I thought you stuck to bigger cities rather than scavenging for food in a scared little village on some backwoods planet. Guess the security forces in the towns didn't take kindly to you ripping out people's insides and eating them for breakfast.” He grinned. “Sucks to be you."

The scout's frozen sneer became a mocking smile, the human disguise tearing open at the corners of its mouth as it laughed. "You'd be surprised at how helpful a scared little village is, human," it hissed, thin tongue flicking out to lick at the torn flesh. "They've been feeding me for almost three months now."

"They-"

Jared's words dropped out into silence as his opinion of the villagers tilted sideways with the implication in the creature's words. 

He'd dealt with skoporas before and he clearly remembered the gruesome nature of their eating habits. Skoporas fed by forcing one of their tentacle-like limbs down their victim's throat, tearing their insides to pieces and coiling around their destroyed organs before pulling the victim's insides back out through their throat, with the result that the skopora got its meal and the victim choked to death on their own entrails. He and Jeff had once tried to negotiate with a band of skops a few years earlier but the skoporas had been adamant in their refusal to consume anything other than humans, which meant...

"They fed you people?" 

Jared couldn't hide the disgust in his voice as he asked again to clarify, "The villagers, the people of Byton – they gave you human sacrifices as payment?"

The scout's smile widened, a second tongue-like tendril creeping out of the split in its face. "One fresh, screaming meal every three days. I must say, I wasn’t pleased with the metal on their throats at first but it didn't take me long to get around the packaging."

"Metal- You mean a collar?" Jared asked, disgust intensifying into horror. "They were feeding you their slaves?"

He felt sick as everything started to click into place - the one remaining slave left in the whole village, the anxiety among the village elders now that they were running out of slaves to sacrifice - and his mind jumped to Jensen's terrified pleas the night before, already conjuring up the worst-case scenarios of what could've been done to him.

The skopora spoke again before he could ask any more questions, but its pleased words provided enough of an answer as it said, vicious and victorious, "No, human. They're _still_ feeding me their slaves.” It made a sound that passed for a laugh. “They must not have enough faith in you to save them."

Its unblinking eyes cut sharply to the left and Jared followed its gaze. He blinked the rainwater out of his eyes as he turned to look at the stone route-marker by the side of the road but his eyes widened when he saw the person kneeling beside it, head down and arms bound behind them to the pillar.

It was Jensen. Even with his view distorted by the downpour and blocked by the blindfold and gag that obscured Jensen's face, there was no mistaking the metal collar that encircled Jensen’s neck. 

Eyes wide in panic, Jared felt his stomach roll with guilt at the realization that he’d let Somerville do this - he'd believed his bullshit excuse about Jensen having nightmares when in reality Jensen had most likely spent the night tied up in the mud and the rain, waiting to be brutally killed by some unknown monster.

Steeling himself with the knowledge that the brutal killing in question hadn’t happened yet (and reminding himself that Somerville couldn't be allowed to get away with what he'd done), Jared turned back to the skopora with a grim smile. "You're not eating today. Not him, not me, and not anyone else in this village."

"You sound sure of yourself, human," the skopora said with a sibylline hiss as the top half of its jaw started to shift. "I don't take commands from vermin like you."

"Oh, it wasn't a command," Jared corrected before letting the smile fade from his lips. "It was a fact."

Pulling the blaster out of his holster in one swift move, he fired two bolts at the skop before either of them could say anything further. One bolt glanced off his chest, the blast sparking out in the leather of his coat, but the other bolt clipped its cheek, searing a path through its thin human skin. The force of it was enough to knock its upper jaw out of alignment and Jared's eyes widened when the top half of the skop’s head tipped backwards, splitting along the line of its mouth to expose the bloodied tentacles snaking up through the neck of its fleshy disguise.

Jared didn't even have time to pull the trigger before one of the skopora's tendrils darted out, quick as the shot from Jared's gun, and sent the blaster flying from his hand into the wet grass.

Grasping at empty air, Jared dropped his hand down to the stash of weapons on his belt. His fingers skimmed over a light grenade and electrostick but he bypassed them in favor of the less risky blade and paralytic dart which weren't likely to malfunction in the heavy rain. 

The dart was an ambitious hope but Jared grinned at the growl of anger from the skop when the dart sank into its body, injecting it with a chemical that Jared knew could take out beasts twice its size. The skop staggered, tentacles sliding down from the bloody stump of its neck and looping around its human-looking ankles to hold it upright. Realizing that tranquilizer's effect was limited to the protective skinsuit the skopora still wore, Jared darted in closer and lashed out, blade coming down on the thick tentacles which snaked out to coil around his arms and chest.

He landed a couple of hits, enough to see reddish-brown blood drip down from the splits in the purpling tentacles, but let out a yell as the grip on his arms tightened, hauling him up off his feet and sending him flying through the air to crash into the bushes further down the road. 

"Fuck-"

Jared groaned at the pain in his back from the landing, and he squeezed his eyes shut to avoid blacking out as he breathed through the throbbing sensation in his skull. He heard the skopora let out another laughing sound, low, menacing and inhuman, and he forced himself to lift his head in case of an incoming attack.

Craning his neck to see past the branches he had landed in, Jared felt panic flare up when he saw the skopora turn away from him and take slow, determined strides over to where Jensen was kneeling, exposed and defenceless in front of the route-marker. The creature’s hiss rose above the rain, tentacles sliding through the grass towards him as it murmured from whatever mouth it had left, "Stay calm now, boy. This will be easier for both of us if you don't fight me."

"No!"

Scrambling to his feet as fast as he could, Jared swayed with the wave of nausea that nearly took him but propeled himself forward, desperate to reach Jensen before the creature could hurt him. He saw Jensen flinch sharply, crying out through the gag when the skopora's tentacles slid up his thighs and around his waist and chest to pin him tightly to the pillar behind him, and Jared grabbed the blade up out of the mud just as the skop tugged Jensen's gag off and stroked along his cheek with one thin tendril.

"Please," Jensen begged, still unable to see the creature in from of him. "Please, don't kill me, please-"

One of the skopora's tentacles pushed at his lips, two more creeping out to slither over Jensen's ashen cheeks, and Jared yelled as he ran closer, "Jensen, keep your mouth shut!" 

He was almost close enough to drag it away but was knocked back again by a hard blow to his face from one of the creature's limbs. Jared retaliated faster this time, springing back to his feet and slicing out at the tentacle which fell, severed, at his feet. 

The creature's roar drowned out Jensen's scared whimper as one of its tendrils started to push its way inside his mouth, and Jared lashed out again, cutting through the smooth hide of another tentacle as the skop grabbed at him, pinning his arms to his body and letting out the barely intelligible growl, "Do you want me to take you too, human?" 

It gripped his face, tilting his head back as Jared pressed his lips together as a last defensive barrier and fought against the hold that kept him and his blade immobilised. 

"I will feast on your flesh," it promised, long limbs making a slick, wet noise as they spilled out of its gaping neck and snaked down to where Jensen was kneeling. "But first, watch this, human. Watch one of your own die to nourish a superior species. Think how glad you should be to have the same honor."

It shifted its tendril away from Jared’s mouth, focusing its attention back on Jensen, and Jared used his relative freedom to shout, "Jensen, listen to me! I can help you but you need to keep your mouth shut, okay? Don't let it inside or it'll kill you!"

Jensen was shaking hard enough that Jared couldn't tell if he'd heard him but relief registered briefly when he saw that Jensen had clamped his teeth together, lips tightly closed as the skop tried to force its way inside.

"Open wide," the skop whispered in a voice that made Jared's skin crawl. "Come on, human, don't make me rip your jaws apart."

Jared couldn't see Jensen's eyes under the cloth but from the muffled sound of terror he made as he jerked away, he guessed the skop's low threats were having the intended effect.

"Jensen, hold on!” he called again, struggling harder against the tentacles that held him. "Just hold on for me, okay?"

The shouts were enough to distract the skop for a second. The grip on his body loosened for a split-second and Jared seized the opportunity to tug his blade free, thrusting it forward to carve a furrow in the human skin that still contained the real body of the skopora. 

It released him with a deep bellow, tentacles jerking and thrashing, and Jared's mind kicked into gear at the exposure of a weakness. 

Brain working fast, he ducked out of the way of a clumsy blow from the skop and danced backwards, trying to find the best angle possible to carry out his plan. His hand went to his belt and his eyes dropped down to Jensen, taking in the vine-like limbs holding him in place as he fought uselessly to get free. His mouth was forced open, lips held wide as one long, thin tendril started to push its way inside and down his throat, and Jared couldn't wait any longer when he saw Jensen choke and convulse.

"Hey!" he shouted above the rain. "Hey, skop, I'm talking to you!"

The skopora halted the progress of its tentacle down Jensen's throat, and Jared moved in fast. Pulling the light grenade off his belt and igniting it with a flick, he lunging forward to push it down inside the neck of the creature, past the mass of writhing tentacles until it was nestled inside the human skin the creature occupied.

The skopora shrieked, alien limbs and human body jerking in terror as it frantically tried to rid itself of the grenade. Jared backed off, feeling his heart pound in his chest as the seconds ticked by painfully slowly, and he looked down at Jensen, hoping with everything he had that this plan wouldn't get either of them killed. 

He never saw the spark of the explosion.

One second he was breathing, watching the skopora panic and struggle against the threat of the grenade, and the next moment he saw it blow apart out in a cloud of red-brown rain. The spray covered the grass, the road, and the route-marker, splashing over Jensen as he knelt in the blood-soaked mud and coming far enough to splatter on Jared’s boots as the light grenade did its work and reduced the skopora to nothingness. 

He almost collapsed on the ground in relief when he saw the skopora's blood mixing with the rain, the explosive sparks of the dangerous light grenade neutralized by the moisture of the rain that poured from the skies. 

Jared’s triumphant smile at the success of his plan was short-lived, and all the air went rushing out of his lungs when he glanced at the base of the route-marker to see that Jensen wasn’t moving.

"Jensen?" Sheathing his blade, he ran across the stained grass and dropped to his knees in front of him, shaking hands coming up to pat at Jensen’s face and neck. "Jensen? Jensen, can you hear me?"

His fingers slipped in the mixture of rain, sweat and blood on Jensen’s throat but he tried again and let out a relieved breath when he felt Jensen’s pulse beating steadily under his fingertips. Jensen coughed weakly, dropping his head to retch into the grass, and Jared shifted out of the way, resting a comforting hand on the back of his neck as he watched him spit out blood, saliva, and whatever other traces of the skopora were left in his mouth.

Pulling off his blindfold, Jared cupped his cheek as Jensen flinched back in fear and soothed gently, "Hey, it's okay. It’s okay, it’s me. You’re safe." 

Tears were still rolling down Jensen’s cheeks, his eyes wide and bruised as he stared up at him, and Jared wrapped his arm around his shoulders as Jensen shivered against him. 

Jensen's breathing was shallow and shocky but thankfully present as he leaned into the warmth of Jared's embrace as much as his bound wrists would allow. Holding him close as the rain started to ease up, Jared let himself think ahead to Byton and what would happen on their return as he pressed a reassuring kiss to the top of Jensen's head. 

White-hot anger sparked up inside him at the thought of handing Jensen back over to the man who'd been ready to sacrifice him, and Jared didn't think he'd ever been more truthful when he repeated quietly, "You're safe now. I promise."

****

+++

It wasn't until he'd got Jensen untied and on his feet that Jared realized just how bad his condition was.

Even though the rain was already stopping, Jensen was soaked from head to toe, his lips pale and his whole body trembling as they walked slowly towards the horse. Jared had cleaned him off as much as he could but Jensen's legs and ragged pants were still covered in the mud that he'd been kneeling in all night. The skopora's blood was splattered across his shirt and neck, and although Jared had wiped his face clean, he'd almost wished that he hadn't when he saw the dark bruises on Jensen's cheek and jaw which he guessed had come from Somerville.

Anger was still blazing inside him and Jared forced himself to ignore the way it flared up at the thought of Jensen's owner, instead focusing on helping Jensen limp towards the horse.

Jensen's steps were shaky, his legs presumably sore from being tied in one position for so long, and Jared adjusted the support of the arm behind his back as he encouraged gently, "You're doing great, man. Almost there."

Jensen didn't answer, biting down on his lower lip as he tried to hide his limp, and Jared held on tighter, hoping Jensen could at least make it to the horse before he passed out from pain or exhaustion. He was still shaking, fine tremors running through him with every step, and Jared's concern only intensified at the thought that Jensen probably hadn't received the standard vaccines and precautionary meds that were common on more developed planets.

The horse was a few paces ahead of them, standing by a tree and gazing imperiously at Jared as if to ask what he'd done to Jensen, but Jared felt Jensen slow his pace and pull against his supportive hold as they got nearer, shaking his head and pleading, "No..."

"Jens-?"

He was cut off when Jensen jerked free and dropped to his knees with the scared plea, "Please don't take me back there."

"Hey, hey," Jared protested, crouching in front of him and trying to deal with Jensen's sudden panic. "It's okay."

"Please," he begged again, "I'll do anything you want, just please don't make me go back to him."

"I won't," Jared promised. "I'm not letting him hurt you again, I swear. We just need to go back to the village for a few minutes and then we'll be gone and you won't ever have to see any of them again." Jensen's pleas didn't start up again and Jared gave him a tiny, optimistic smile. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Jensen didn't look all that convinced, but given that he'd narrowly escaped having his guts torn out by a monster that his owner had handed him over to, Jared figured his trust issues were definitely understandable. 

He was relieved, however, when Jensen allowed himself to be guided back to his feet and over to where the horse was standing. She whinnied when they got closer and Jared patted her soothingly, wanting to at least convince the horse that his intentions were pure even if Jensen was still doubting him. It seemed to have the desired effect and she stilled as Jared moved to help Jensen climb up onto her back. It took some maneuvering but eventually they were both settled in place with Jensen holding around Jared's waist as he guided the horse back onto the road. 

Nudging her into action with a gentle kick, Jared steered his way around the trees while tapping out a quick message to Jeff on his Com - he didn't want to stay in Byton any longer than he needed to. 

Jensen still felt cold where he was pressed up against Jared's back, his wrists looking bloody and abraded from his struggles with the rope as he wrapped his arms around Jared's body to avoid falling off the horse, and Jared shimmied his way out of his windbreaker before reaching back to drape it awkwardly around Jensen's shoulders. 

Jensen huddled into it instinctively, looking up at Jared in surprise, and Jared gave him another smile as he teased, "Hey, you like that, you should see the size of the blankets we have on the ship." 

The horse trotted onwards and Jared's smile faded as he closed his free hand over Jensen's cold fingers and murmured quietly, thinking of the coming confrontations with Somerville and with Jeff, "You're gonna be fine, Jensen."

**+++**

For the first time since Jared's arrival on Thuma, the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds as they reached Byton once again.

The village looked different as they approached, and Jared couldn't decide whether it was the newfound sunlight or his revised opinions of the people of Byton that was affecting his view of the town. The town square was busier than it had been the previous night, with people and carts bustling backwards and forwards between the houses and the small market that was set up on the left side of the square. 

The nobles stood out from the rest by the finery of their clothes and Jared gritted his teeth when he saw the small group of Lord Somerville, Judge Anderson and their friends look up at their approach.

Pulling his horse to a halt, Jared dismounted as smoothly as he could when he still had a scared and exhausted Jensen cuddled up against him. Instead of moving to greet them, he purposefully turned his back on Somerville and the villagers to help Jensen down from the horse first. 

After making sure Jensen was still conscious and upright, Jared moved in close to cup his cheek and meet his eyes with the promise, "I'm not giving you back to them, okay?" Jensen looked at him nervously, his freckles standing out against his pale skin and his eyes wide and bloodshot, and Jared gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I just need to talk to them and then we can get out of here for good. Jeff'll be here to 'port us up really soon."

Relieved to see that Jensen looked less scared of him that he was of Somerville, Jared patted him once more on the shoulder before straightening up to his full height and turning around to face the town nobles who had gathered behind him. 

Unsurprisingly, Somerville was the first one to step forward, a prematurely pleased smile on his lips. "I take it you were successful, Mr Padalecki?"

Eyes cold, Jared looked him up and down. "Depends what you count as being successful." He glanced around at the rest of the nobles as well as the other villagers who were starting to congregate around them. "The scout's dead," he said bluntly. "There was never any army waiting for you in the sky, and no-one was going to destroy your village. The scout was a skopora - it was just a scavenger looking for some food."

Somerville's gaze darted over Jared's shoulder to Jensen and his smile became more brittle as he opted to ignore the 'food' part of Jared's words. "Well, at least it's over now."

"No," Jared snapped with enough force to make Somerville flinch. "No, it's not fucking over. It hasn't even started yet."

Behind Somerville, Judge Anderson frowned, kindly smile becoming an expression of worry. "What? But I thought you said it was dead?"

"It's dead," Jared agreed. "It's very, very dead. Blown up into a million bloody pieces by a light grenade. I'm just trying to decide whether to do the same thing to you."

Anderson's eyes went comically wide. "Me?"

"Why are you so surprised, Judge?" Jared asked with a sneer. "You brought me here to get rid of the creature that was terrorizing your village and killing innocent people. Why should I spare the rest of the murderers in this town?"

"Murderers?" The old man looked petrified. If Jared hadn't known what he did, he might've felt sorry for him. "I'm not a murderer, Mr Padalecki!"

"None of us are," Somerville chimed in, taking a step forward. "I don't know what you're talking about, Padalecki, but I won't stand for this."

"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Jared repeated in disbelief, speaking loud enough for all the gathered villagers to hear. "Let me refresh your memory then, _Lord_. Every three days for the past three months, you or one of your friends has taken one of the slaves from this town out to the route-marker in the middle of the night. You tied them up there, gagged and blindfolded them so they couldn't scream for help or even see what was coming, and then you left them there to be ripped apart."

Somerville's jaw tightened and Jared asked, "Your months are, what, forty-five days long?" Disgust colored his tone as he answered his own question, "That means nearly fifty people have choked to death on their own entrails because of you."

There was a rumble of horror from the gathered villagers and Jared's eyes darted around the crowd, picking out the people who had joined in the sacrifice by the stony pallor of their faces.

"They were just slaves!" Somerville retorted, speaking to the crowd as well as to Jared. "We were trying to save our town. We would never have handed _our_ people over to that thing."

"Our people?" Icy fury flooded Jared's veins and he grabbed Somerville by the front of his ruffled shirt and dragged him forward. Jensen flinched back as Jared forced Somerville to face his former slave, and Jared's guilt at making Jensen the center of attention like this was outweighed by his anger at Somerville's words.

"Look at him," he spat, tugging on the neck of Somerville's shirt until he looked at Jensen. "He was tied up in the rain and the mud for hours because of you. That blood on his clothes? That's from the creature who tried to pull his guts out through his throat this morning. That's from the creature that _you_ sacrificed him to!" 

Breathing hard, Jared shoved him back, pushing him down into the mud in the square and drawing his blade out of its sheath with slow precision. 

"He's one of 'your people'," he said coldly. "You owned him and you were responsible for what happened to him. By the most fucking basic terms, he is 'your people', but even when you knew I was here to save your pathetic, worthless lives, you still gave him up to be slaughtered."

"It was for the good of the town!" Somerville shouted, still grandstanding for the people as he staggered to his feet, clothes caked in mud. "We had to think of the greater good. If the city had been faster with sending help, if you had come here sooner, we wouldn't have needed to sacrifice anybody!"

Jared barked out a laugh. "You're blaming me?" He stalked closer, saying in disbelief, "You're blaming me because you decided to sacrifice your people to a monster?"

"We had no choice!" Regaining his breath, Somerville stood up tall and lifted his chin in defiance. "This was the best option."

"Really?" Jared said, bitter and sarcastic. "Maybe I should go ask all your slaves if they think this was best option? Oh, wait," he said with growing anger, "he's the only fucking one of them who's still alive!"

Despite Jared's rage, Somerville looked like he was becoming calmer as he smoothed down his clothes and said coolly, "And I'm very grateful for you saving him. You may not like our methods, Mr Padalecki, but name your reward for your work and you'll never need to see us again." He glanced past Jared to address Jensen, "Go back and get cleaned up, Jensen. You can rest for a few hours but at least make yourself look presentable."

Jared followed his gaze but his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Jensen duck his head in trained obedience and start to limp off towards Somerville's house.

"Wait!" Stunned, Jared sheathed his blade and hurried to block Jensen's way, catching his arm and saying firmly, "No. You're not going back to him." Jensen's eyes were wet when he raised his head, proving that he didn't want to go back to Somerville any more than Jared wanted to lose him, and Jared said again, "He doesn't get to keep you. Not after what he did."

"You're taking him as your reward?" Somerville asked, his voice not giving anything away. "You could do far better than him but if that's what you want, I won't stop you."

"Shut up," Jared countered, loud and blazing angry in the face of Somerville's quiet coolness. "You're right, I am taking him, but not as a reward. People aren't property, and even if you used to own him, you gave up that position when you dragged him out there to be killed. I'm taking him because he doesn't want to come back to you and because he needs more help than he will ever get from you."

"Call it what you want," Somerville retorted. "Either way you get your prize and we get our lives back. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Padalecki."

He walked away, ready to slip back into the group of nobles who were standing together at the edge of the crowd, but halted when Jared called after him, "Actually, I'll be getting my reward from the city."

Somerville turned back around, eyebrows raised, and Jared explained, "They're the ones who contracted me and I don't think the king would mind if I asked them for a favor as a reward." He smirked. "My partner's very close to the princess."

"What kind of favor do you want from the city?"

Jared's smirk became a dark smile. "They're going to help me tear you apart."

Cries went up from the villagers but Jared spoke out, addressing them all, "I'm not here to kill anyone! You're all free to change the way this village does things and to start new traditions but your noblemen are finished." 

He turned to Somerville and his friends, the ones who had stood, blank-faced, as he had described what they'd done to their slaves. "You're all going to jail." The judge opened his mouth but Jared cut him off before he could speak, "And I don't mean the tiny little jail you've got here. I'm going to ask the king to send the best of the city's security forces down into this village to investigate each inch of your lives." 

He looked over the huddle of nobles. "Shouldn't be hard to find enough evidence when there are fifty bodies out there with a named collar on every single one. Your lives are going to be destroyed piece by piece, gentlemen. I'm just sorry I don't get to stick around to watch it." His eyes traveled back to Somerville and he smiled grimly. "Hey, maybe they'll broadcast the trial. I'll get a patch to pick up the signal so that I can watch you plead for your life and your freedom when I'm hundreds of galaxies away. Wouldn't want to miss that."

"You jumped-up little-"

"What?" Jared interrupted, getting up close and towering over Somerville. "I'm a jumped-up little what?"

He watched Somerville swallow fearfully and accuse, "This won't work. This is my town. No-one comes in here and tells me what to do."

"They do now," he answered. "I've been here less than a day and I've seen you beat, assault, and try to murder your slave, while you and the rest of the nobility are all taking part in human sacrifices every three days. You don't get to get away with that shit anymore."

"I- I can give you money," Somerville stammered, calm facade slipping at the thought of jail and possible execution. "I'm the wealthiest man in Byton. I can-"

"Save it," Jared cut in, face close to Somerville's as he sneered, "Use it to find yourself a lawyer who's willing to defend the kind of cowardly asshole who likes feeding people to skoporas. I'm done with you."

Stepping back to address the villagers, Jared called, "Start severing those ties now, folks! It's your best shot at surviving when all these scumbags get thrown in a city jail and left to rot." He let some menace slip into his voice as he said to Byton's stunned elite, "It's over, guys. Run if you want to but there's no telling how many more creatures are waiting out in the woods for a good meal."

Satisfied by the pale, terrified expressions on their faces, Jared walked back over to Jensen and turned on his Com to see if Jeff was in place to 'port them up yet. The quiet beeps told him that the 'port dock was ready whenever Jared was, and he reached out to put a hand on Jensen's shoulder as he asked, "You ready to go?"

Jensen leaned into his touch but before he could answer, Somerville called from behind them, angry and frustrated, "This is what it comes down to? You leave someone else to do your dirty work?"

"Unlike you, I don't kill people if I can avoid it," Jared called pointedly over his shoulder. "Anyway, you'll fit in well in jail. There'll be plenty of other rapists and murderers there to keep you company."

"While you fly off into the sunset with some cock-sucking slave?" Somerville gave an exaggerated snort of laughter. "Some prize."

Jared tensed, calmness disintegrating as he turned slowly. "What did you just call him?"

Jensen's hands gripped at his shirt, but with his heart pounding in his chest Jared barely heard Jensen's quiet plea, "Don't..."

"You heard me," Somerville said, an ugly grin spreading across his face as Jared approached him. "If you're doing all this because of that useless whore, you're as fucking stupid as he is."

Jared heard the crack of bone against cartilage before he even realized that he'd landed the punch. Somerville let out a bellow of pain, stumbling backward with a hand clasped to his broken and bleeding nose, and Jared took a step forward to hit him with a hard right hook that knocked him to the ground in a groaning heap.

"Alien scum," Somerville muttered, spitting out a mouthful of blood and glaring up at Jared. "I knew you were a fucking savage."

"Savage, huh?" Jared hauled him up by the collar until their faces were close enough for him to spit angrily, "I'm not the one who sacrifices slaves." 

Somerville's leg came up to kick out at him feebly but Jared slammed his knee into his gut with force, his mind on Jensen's bruised cheek at dinner the previous night, his swollen lips as he'd hurried out of Somerville's bedroom, his raw wrists from where he'd been bound to a pillar all night, and the way he'd been shaking on the ride back to the village. The blows kept coming, a blood-rush of vengeance on Jensen's behalf, and Jared dropped to his knees, slamming his fist into Somerville's face one more time before sliding his blade out of its sheath and pressing it close against Somerville's neck.

"Oh, God..."

Somerville's eyes went wide and pleading, shaking hands coming up in a depserate plea, and Jared held the blade in place as he begged, "No, no, don't, I'm sorry! I take it back! Please, don't-"

"You deserve this," Jared murmured, leaning in close enough to hear Somerville's shallow, panicked breathing and to catch the stench of urine as his bladder released in fear. "For what happened to all those people, you deserve worse than this."

"Please!" Somerville was sobbing now, tears and snot running down his face as his hands clutched at Jared's arms, the metal of the blade pressing into the flesh of his throat. "Don't, please, I'm sorry!"

Jared's hand hesitated on the hilt of the knife, the skin of Somerville's throat already stretched almost to breaking point where the tip dug in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jensen move nearer and he glanced up, expecting to see the same desire for vengeance written on Jensen's face. 

Jensen's headshake came as enough of a shock to make him back off.

The movement was barely there, a tiny, nervous shake from side to side, but it was all the prompting Jared needed to lower the blade from Somerville's neck and to slip it back into the sheath. He stood, keeping his eyes on the crying, gasping mess of a man on the muddy ground, and backed off to grab his pack from the horse and to calm his thumping heart as much as possible.

The Com beeping told him the 'port gate was still open and ready to receive them. Taking one more deep breath, Jared tried to ignore the blood on his knuckles as he strode over to Jensen and rested a hand on his shoulder before parroting Somerville's earlier words back to all those watching in the village square, some of his earlier charm returning now that he'd got the violence out of his system, "Pleasure doing business with you."

He activated the 'port without further hesitation and tightened his grip on Jensen as he closed his eyes against the familiar feeling of the 'port technology creeping under his skin and into every molecule of his body.

His breath rushed out in a whoosh when he felt solid metal under his feet and something settled inside him when he opened his eyes to the reassuring sight of the 'port docks of Jeff's ship. In his arms, Jensen let out a panicked noise of surprise and Jared adjusted his hold on him, hands coming up to support his shoulders as he soothed, "It's okay. It's just a 'port." 

Jensen looked at him with scared confusion and Jared smiled. "Sorry, I know the first time can be kind of intimidating. We're on a ship up in the atmosphere above your planet right now - I know your village doesn't even have Com systems yet so the idea of spaceships probably sounds crazy, but trust me, it's totally safe."

"Totally safe, huh?"

Jared's head snapped up at the voice from across the room and he grinned when Jeff came strolling out of the cockpit, still looking satisfied and well-fucked after his activities the previous evening (and probably that morning too.) 

"Good to see you too, dude," Jared greeted, offering a hopeful smile as Jeff's eyes raked over him and Jensen, both of them dirty and tired as they stood on the dock. Jensen moved closer into his embrace, eyeing Jeff with trepidation, and Jared rubbed in a circular motion between his shoulder-blades as he explained, "Don't worry, that's just Jeff. He's one of the good guys."

However, Jeff didn't do much to reinforce this 'good guy' assertion when he sighed and asked, "Which part of 'We're not taking on an ex-slave' did you not understand, Jared?"

"He's not an ex-slave yet," Jared countered optimistically, stepping down from the dock and leading Jensen with him. "The collar might be electrified - I don't want to risk taking it off without the right tools."

"Kid, that is not an excuse and you fucking know it," Jeff replied without menace, still looking over them carefully. "What happened to you down there? You look like shit."

"And you look like a pig in shit," Jared shot back good-naturedly. "How was the princess?"

"Awesome. Stop trying to distract me," Jeff said without a pause. "What happened? What were you dealing with?"

"The scout was a skop," Jared said, but pushed on to the important part before Jeff could speak, "The villagers were feeding their slaves to it, man." With an arm around Jensen's shoulders, Jared gestured to him as he explained, "I found him tied up out there when I went to meet the scout this morning. His asshat owner left him out there to be fucking slaughtered."

Jeff's shoulders relaxed and Jared took advantage of the expression of sympathy on his face as he pleaded, "He needs help, Jeff. His owner treated him like shit and he could be sick from being out in the rain all night." 

He felt guilty for talking about Jensen while he was standing next to him but since Jensen was huddled close to him and staying quiet, he figured he should try to persuade Jeff on his behalf. "We don't need to keep him for long if he doesn't want to stay or if you don't want anyone else here," he pushed. "We can take him to Sam and Misha next time we're over near Hlax 2 - the rehab there has gotta be better than sending him back down to Thuma."

Jeff hesitated and Jared added as a last-ditch attempt, "Please, man?"

He just about refrained from punching the air in triumph when Jeff sighed in wordless acquiescence. 

Still holding Jensen in a half-hug, Jared couldn't stop himself from beaming happily when Jeff turned to Jensen and said with a genuinely amicable smile, "Welcome aboard, kid. We'll take you for as long as you can put up with Yeti Junior here."

"Hey!" Jared complained half-heartedly, unable to keep the delighted grin off his face. "I'm handsome and dashing, thank you very much."

Jeff rolled his eyes and flipped Jared off as he wandered back through to the cockpit, leaving Jared free to turn his attention to Jensen, who seemed thoroughly overwhelmed by everything. 

Still feeling triumphant about convincing Jeff to let Jensen come with them, Jared faced him with a smile, his hand resting gently against his collared neck as he asked with concern, "You okay? I know it's a lot to take in but you said you didn't want to go back to Byton and even with Jeff here, this has got to be better than staying down there..."

Worried about scaring him away before they'd even left orbit, Jared was relieved when Jensen looked up at him with a timid smile, and his own grin only broadened further when Jensen whispered, quiet but sincere, "Thank you."


End file.
